Less-Is-More Blog by Pierre Khawand

Brian Solis & Deirdre Breakenridge in their book Putting the Public Back in Public Relations talk about the new terminology in the social media era. Old terminology, before Web 2.0 and social media, refers to messages that get broadcast to users. New terminology refers to conversations that are shared with people. Brian and Deirdre also refer to what Josh Bernoff from Forrester wrote about his frustration with the term "users". Web users are no longer "users" he says. Knowing that we are at 80% of Net penetration in the US for instance, these "users" are now "people" looking for information. In the social media era, "users" are "people connecting with other people".

The most important part is not the terminology but the thinking that goes with the terminology. Thinking in terms of people and conversation changes everything. It creates a two-way street that allows all of us to change and learn in the process.

I believe that in training (or "learning" in the new terminology) and productivity ("accomplishment" in the new terminology) a similar terminology and mind shift are happening. Here is a start for comparing old and new terminology:

Seems like terminology follows mindset instead of leading it - interesting. Out for me also is "audience" ...so old fashioned oneway communication.

Julie Sears

Seems like terminology follows mindset instead of leading it - interesting. Out for me also is "audience" ...so old fashioned oneway communication.

Ceil Tilney

I was thinking the opposite of Julie's comment - in some cases, terminology anticipates mindset. We've been talking about replacing "training" with "learning" as a way to talk about mastering workplace skills for a decade, but until technology let us replace broadcast learning models with interactive ones, it was a linguistic change with no real meaning. I find more people now are ready to think of "training" as a really outdated, passive approach to what should be a vibrant, self-directed activity. Hooray!

Nice question. For me, it depends on the audience and how much I want to devote in the conversation towards education over listening. Older terms work great for interaction, but aren't always contextually relevant. Have to be mindful of audience and then walk from there. Blanket terminology only works for so long in some areas IMO.

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